A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide - 9781626564084

As a veteran of five successful Kickstarter campaigns and the proprietor of the Kickstarter Lessons blog, Jamey Stegmaier knows something about crowdfunding. In this book he goes beyond the nuts and bolts of how it works to the deeper level of what makes it work.

This book is filled with stories and examples of over 40 crowdfunding campaigns, some that succeeded wildly—like the high-tech cooler designer whose first campaign faltered but whose second raised 13 million dollars—as well as sobering disasters, like the board game maker whose project collapsed in two months and had to return over $100,000 to his backers. Stegmaier uses these stories to illustrate lessons about things like preparation, timing, what kind of offers to make and what kind to avoid, what to spend money on and when, and more. The book includes 125 Kickstarter lessons, in one sentence each (more or less).

But Stegmaier's overarching point is that you've got to see crowdfunding as more than just a cool way to raise money—it's a way to create a community that will offer you far more than just dollars. If you treat your backers as people—communicate with them, attend to their needs, ask for their opinions—your chances of you and your projects succeeding increase exponentially.